Just an Outing
by YouSaid-Always
Summary: Peeta's ovens broke, there's no paint shipment for another week and Katniss is at her wits end. She take Peeta out to hunt, but as per usual Peeta fails dramatically before they get past shooting tree trunks. Then they spill their guts of cute stuff! OS


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own THE HUNGER GAMES. But GOD, do I wish I did. BOO.**

**Review and STUFF. Ta.**

The oven had been broken for a week now, there had been no delivery of paint because the train had broke down half way between district 10 and 11. So Peeta had been moping around since last thursday.

"Peeta!" i grimace. Thats the fifth time hes walked up and down the stairs. "Grab your damn coat! Were going hunting."

"But..i thought i was too lou.."

"Shhhhh..." I raise my hand to silence him, "I swear, if you walk up those stairs or hum that tune or tap your fingers on the side or tell me about district 5's bread one more time, i will be hunting you. Get your jacket, lets go."

He grinned and ran to get his jacket. His optimism didn't last long though.

"Ill just watch you, put me up a tree and ill watch."

"No, you can hunt."

"But..i cant ..i dont know ho.."

"Ill teach you. Now come on." i huff, feigning annoyance. The closer we got to the woods the freer i felt. And the warmth radiating from where my hand linked with Peeta kept my 'happy levels' up. (Dr A felt the need to turn all my moods into levels.) Every time our fingers linked my happy levels soared to what Dr A would call 100/100. We kept walking for around an hour, i picked up two bows and a sheath of arrows on the way. There was no reason for me to keep them hidden, but i just felt better with only me knowing where they were, and it helped me feel closer to my father. We reached the lake not long after that. Its the first time id shared this with anyone before, and im glad its Peeta.

"Right, Peeta Mellark, stand right there." I smirked, seeing him literally jump to where i pointed. "I am about to teach you how to shoot, so pay attention!". I grin. I give a very quick example, shoot an apple from a tree by severing the stalk attaching it to the branch. It falls softly to the floor, the arrow wedging in the trunk. I hand him the bow and say, "Your turn!"

"But.."

"Your turn!" I grin, walking over and picking up my apple. I brush off the grass and take a bite. "Aim for the trunk." I tap the trunk with my free hand,and then i pull out my arrow. "Here, there's a slit in the back of the arrow, fit it on the string of the bow...thats right. Now stretch out your arm straight resting the arrow on your thumb...yep, pull back up to your cheek..almost brushing your lips ..and...when youre ready.."

THWACK!

"Arghhhhhhhhh..." Peetas face turned read as he dropped the bow and spun around, cursing under his breath. I laughed as i realised what hed done. Hed caught his arm with the string.

"Let me see," I smiled.

"No, youre laughing at me!"

"Peeta, let me look. It happens to the best of us!". Well, actually, it hadnt happened to me since i was 9..It left a nice bruise though. For a girl of 9.

"It hurts.." He whimpers, turning his arm to me.

"Wow, that'll leave a bruise." I cringed. To be fair, his was worse than any i had ever had. But come on, this guy had grown up getting burns and welts from his mother. Surely this is nothing in comparison. "Come here," I talk quietly. like my mother used to when she had a hurt kid in the kitchen. i lead him towards the lake, "Bend down, i need to get your arm in lake."

"Okay," he winces as he drops his fore arm in the lake, and then he sighs.

"See? Better, right?" I smile, stroking his cheek.

He catches my hand with his right hand and holds it there.

"You're really you out here. I love it." He smiled, breathing in the scent from my wrist.

"Im free here. And you're with me, its a hundred times better. Even if we only come home with one squirrel, i prefer having you with me." I grin. He sticks out his tongue.

"Is this the lake? As in..Your lake?"

I nod, smiling sadly.

"Thank you, i know it must be hard.."

"Only when I'm here alone, now I've got you to share it with."

He grinned. "Thank you."

"Want another go?" i teased.

"Id...rather not." He grinned.

"Oh, well then..you wont mind looking for some katniss for me, will you?" before he could register the mischievous look on my face,i shoved him in the lake.

The look on his face was priceless, and as i reached to pull him out he pulled me in. We splashed around in the shallows for a while. It was late afternoon by the time we had finished trying to drown each other. We were laid floating, hands linked looking up at the sky.

"You know, i never thought we'd ever have this." I whispered.

"What?"

"This. I mean, sharing everything. Our secret places, our memories. Fully opening up to each other. I had myself fully convinced that we were just too broken, too unhinged to ever love each other properly. That we could never open up in such a way that nothing was hidden, and here we are. Every inch of ourselves exposed to each other."

i could almost hear him smiling. "I know. A part of me was convinced too. And when the flashback came it felt like there was no other way. But inside, there was a voice in my head screaming for me to fight for you. And that voice has been there since i was 5, so i figured i better listen."

I laughed, "Good job too!"

He sighed, and i could hear the contentment, the joy, in that single, simple sound.

"Stay with me," i smiled.

"Always."


End file.
